Fulton wins Swedish professorship

The Erlander Professorship, named after former Swedish Prime Minister Tage Erlander, is presented to an outstanding scientist in any of the natural sciences. The professorship is awarded by Naturvetenskapliga Forskningsraadet (NFR), the Swedish natural science research council. This is only the second time in its 23-year history that the professorship has been given to a mathematician.

Fulton, a specialist in algebraic geometry, plans to spend the year at the Mittag-Leffler Institute near Stockholm. The institute is devoting a year to the study of enumerative geometry and interactions with physics.

Fulton received his B.A. in 1961 from Brown and his Ph.D. in 1966 from Princeton. He taught at Princeton, Brandeis and Brown before joining the Chicago faculty in 1987. He is editor of the Journal of the American Mathematical Society.

The Erlander Professorship is unique in Sweden, a country that does not have a tradition of named professorships. Anyone can be nominated for the award, and the winner can choose to spend the fellowship year at any Swedish university.